KABUL (Pajhwok): The Council of Ministers has decided that the fee for media frequency licenses should be reduced by 50 percent in the grade one provinces and media outlets could pay the liabilities in installments over three years, a statement said on Wednesday.
The Afghan Journalists Support Organisation in a statement said that in the past few months, this committee has held various meetings with the officials of the Ministry of Information and Culture, the spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, and a number of regional agencies, including Atara, in order to increase the frequency of radios and televisions in the first-tier provinces. Fees are reduced and the balance of previous years can be paid in installments.
The Committee for the Protection of Afghan Journalists sent a letter to the said Ministry on the 30th of the month of Zamri this year and requested to address the problems of media outlets. The issues Televisions and radio networks of Herat, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar were also attached.
The source added that as a result of these efforts and with the cooperation of the Ministry, the Council of Ministers decided that the frequency license fees of the media in the first-tier provinces should be reduced by 50 percent and that the remaining amount of the previous years on the media should be paid in installments over the years.
The Committee for the Safety of Afghan Journalists called the government's decision an effective step for the sustainability and empowerment of the media in the first-tier provinces and requested the government to take measures to solve the remaining challenges facing the operation of the media.
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